Texas Tech's Tim Proudfoot tags out Oklahoma's Craig Alkin during their game on Sunday in Lubbock. (Shannon Wilson)

Texas Tech baseball was off this week for finals, and while the Red Raiders sequestered themselves in study hall, the rest of the Big 12 Conference revolved around them.

But, then, there really wasn’t all that much movement. The biggest development was that a white-hot Kansas team continued its late-season surge and swept West Virginia. That same West Virginia team that started the weekend 9-8 and in fourth place in the Big 12 will come to Lubbock this weekend 9-11 and in sixth place.

Tech, meanwhile, leapfrogged into fourth, but tied with also-idle Texas, and the Longhorns hold the tiebreaker. If the Big 12 Championships started today, Tech (37-16, 11-10) would be the fifth seed against the fourth-seed Longhorns (34-15, 11-10).

And that probably won’t change much.

With just one win against the Mountaineers, who are 2-7 on the road in conference play this season, Tech will ensure no worse than the fifth seed at the tournament. To finish fourth, Tech must win one more game against WVU (27-20 overall) than Texas does at Kansas State.

Even finishing fifth, though, would be quite an accomplishment for this team considering it was picked to finish eighth. It would be only the second time since 2004 the Red Raiders have finished fifth or higher, and it would be the turnaround of the year if not for Kansas, which was picked ninth and will end up no worse than third.

Finishing fourth would also mean Tech would likely end up with 38-40 wins going to Oklahoma City, and a good run there would put the cherry on top of what is already a strong NCAA tournament resume. Tech enters the week with a solid RPI of 14 and can ensure a Top 16 RPI according to Boyd’s World with a series win over the Mountaineers.

First to worst

Speaking of finishes, that’s what Kansas State is after this weekend — finished.

By being swept at home by Oklahoma State, the Wildcats were officially eliminated from consideration for the Big 12 Championships. It’s not the first time KSU (24-28, 4-17) has missed the trip to OKC, but it will likely be the most painful.

The Wildcats, the 2013 league regular-season champions, are the only team in Big 12 baseball history to be the preseason favorite in the coaches poll and finish dead last.

Prior to this year, the worst finish for a Big 12 team projected by the coaches to win the league was sixth, and that was former member Texas A&M in 2009. The year before, Texas was predicted to win the conference and ended up fifth. Texas also finished fourth after topping the 2000 poll.

Those three years and this season are the only ones since the league began in 1997 where the preseason favorite finished worse than third.

The Wildcats have been decimated by injuries, not only during the preseason but in the last few weeks as well, so much so that Big 12 Player of the Year Ross Kivett, who has played outfield most of this season, was playing second and first base in Sunday’s 17-5 run-rule loss to the Cowboys.

At 4-17 in Big 12 play, the Wildcats need a series win to avoid being the first league team since 2004 to win fewer than six Big 12 games. KSU was 4-23 in 2004, the first year under current coach Brad Hill.

Jockeying for position

Speaking of Oklahoma State, it will be an interesting weekend both in Oklahoma and in Central Texas as two teams vying for the Big 12 title will face two teams vying to not be the eighth seed.

The Cowboys and Oklahoma Sooners end the season with their annual Bedlam series. The first game is in Bricktown in Oklahoma City while the final two games are in Tulsa at ONEOK Ballpark.

OSU currently leads the Big 12 with a 16-5 record. TCU is one game back in second at 15-6, and the Cowboys hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Horned Frogs after taking two of three in late March.

On the other end of the spectrum are Oklahoma and Baylor, which hosts TCU for three games starting Thursday at Baylor Ballpark. Baylor currently holds a half-game lead over OU for seventh place thanks to the Bears’ finale at West Virginia early in the season being washed out.

More importantly, the Bears hold the tiebreaker with their 2-1 series win over OU in Norman the first weekend of May. Regardless of their outcomes, both are in the Big 12 tournament, but just barely.

For Baylor it would be the second time in league history to finish eighth (2009) and would come just two seasons removed from winning the Big 12 in 2012 with a 20-4 record. Oklahoma has finished eighth in both 2008 and 1999.

Future Raiders on display

With Tech off this week, it afforded the opportunity to see some future Tech players at this weekend’s Region V junior college tournament at Rip Griffin Park.

Four future Tech players were in the tournament — Howard College LHP Tanner Scott, Temple College shortstop Cory Raley, the younger brother of former Tech volunteer assistant coach Russell Raley, and New Mexico Junior College catcher Kholton Sanchez have all signed.

Also, in a bit of coming full circle, Landon Darwin, the third baseman for North Central Texas College, will reportedly walk-on next season. His father, Kevin, was the baseball coach at NCTC when I was covering the Lions 20 years ago for the newspaper in Gainesville. I saw Kevin on Sunday and got to catch up with him, and look forward to seeing his son in a Tech uniform.